1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of data transfer, and, more particularly, to methods of data transfer between mobile electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
State of the art data exchange between two mobile devices such as cell phones or computers typically involves three steps: discovery, pairing and the data exchange itself. For each of the three steps, a range of possible approaches exists.
In the discovery step, it may be determined which devices are available to exchange data with another device. This discovery step may be easily demonstrated by use of Bluetooth devices, for example. In order for discovery in a Bluetooth device to work, one of the two devices has to be set into a “discoverable” mode. Afterwards, the other device can perform a search for Bluetooth devices that are within range. As a result, the other device may find all devices that are discoverable. Another approach is demonstrated by Apple's Bonjour technology, which enables finding computers in the same network.
The second of the above-mentioned three steps, “pairing”, involves ensuring that it is intended that both devices exchange data with each other. For this authentication purpose, typically a password or a number, the “PIN,” must be entered into both devices by a user. Only if both passwords match will both devices be allowed to become associated with each other, i.e., be allowed to exchange data with each other. Examples of this approach are demonstrated in Bluetooth or by Microsoft's HomeGroup Networking.
Once both devices are paired with each other, they are then able to exchange data with each other. This final one of the three above-mentioned steps can be realized by a range of traditional wireless or wired technologies. Typical examples for data exchange technologies are LAN, WiFi, Bluetooth, GSM/3G wireless networks, etc.
As demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,296,747, visual approaches can also be used to exchange data. Barcodes that are printed on or attached to physical objects can be used to link digital information with those objects. Cell phones and other mobile devices with a built-in camera can capture these two-dimensional barcodes in the same manner that they take photographs. Thus, there is no “barcode scanner” required. These two-dimensional barcodes contain encoded information such as text, internet URLs, SMS messages, business card information, phone numbers, email messages, etc. Decoding software on the mobile device is able to capture and decode the data and then present, store, manipulate, or take action based on the data. One such action is to open the mobile browser going to a web site.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,268 explains how to use bar codes for the purpose of driver navigation. Barcodes that are printed on a piece of paper are used to encode location information such as a geographical position. A bar code scanner in the navigation system is used to read, decode and input the location into the navigation system as a travel destination. Instead of manually entering a geographical position and/or address, the driver can merely scan the bar code that is on the piece of paper.
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the prior art is a method of exchanging or transferring information between two mobile electronic devices that takes less user action and involvement than the known methods described above.